Picture courtesy of Crash.net, fitting…
My intent was to get something out before the on-track action began (Thursday night local time) but things got off to a rough start. As in one destroyed Ferrari race car, a red flag, and an extended FP2 that saw no fans in the grandstands.
…and ominous start for an event that was already under a cloud.
For now though, I want to look ahead since that’s what Prix-views is all about. In time, I’ll get this refined but for now everybody gets the rough cut. Think of it as the Las Vegas Grand Prix version of a series of posts. Well, maybe not. Here are my predictions for the event.
For the front row, I am picking Charles Leclerc to be P1 next to Lando Norris in P2. The Ferraris were looking fast in FP1 and FP2 despite Carlos Sainz’s frightening wreck. While Carlos will get a 10-place penalty for having to replace several components; Charles is looking good, so far at least. Given his recent performances in both qualifying and in the races, I think Lando will be next to Charles when the lights go out Saturday night.
When it comes to predicting the podium, that is the proverbial wildcard. My guess is that Charles will be able to convert his pole into a win because he will be able to successfully avoid all the inevitable chaos behind him. Ferrari tends to be hard on their tires this year but with cold temperatures forecast, I don’t think that will be a problem. For the other two positions, I will predict that Perez will be P2 and Alonso P3. If he can stay out of trouble, Sainz will score points and there is also a chance that both Williams and Haas could do so as well. It will be an interesting event, hopefully for good racing and a degree of unpredictability.
Given the track layout, weather forecast, and a host of other unknowns; the teams will be improvising a lot with strategy and setups. I think at least one Safety Car deployment is inevitable and if I were a betting man, I’d put money on a Red Flag. It’s a street circuit after all and I think there will be chaos, especially towards the back.
Don’t know what the biggest story will be coming out of this race but the hype by the organizers (FOM) and the anger by the locals will have an impact. This event was a big risk by FOM both financially ($500 million!) and reputation-ally. The City of Las Vegas, the Visitor’s and Convention Bureau, and the Casinos that backed this event are also rolling the dice. It’s a high stakes game at the biggest table in motorsport, we’ll see who comes out the winner in all this.
Hopefully the fans get their money’s worth.
